The Digital Photo Guy

Old Guyz Rule! (Except When They Don’t)

Did a shoot this past weekend that definitely took me outside my comfort zone. Anyone here ever heard of steampunk? As one of the models explained to me, “It’s how people in the 1800s might have imagined the 21st century.” Yeah, OK, is this a hint that she thinks I was around in the 1800s?

Here, I used a single Canon 550EX on-camera with a Stofen Omnibounce diffuser. The strobe was set to 1/4 power in Manual and bounced off a very low (dingy) white ceiling.

For my newbie readers, this is a good example of why I like to shoot in Manual Mode. In this shoot, I wanted a dark, edgy look with enough depth of field (DoF) to keep everything sharp. Had I relied on the auto exposure (AE) meter, the image would have been brighter, not in keeping with the dark, post-Apocalyptic theme. More

Why Manual Flash is Sometimes Easier

This past weekend, I photographed Celestina, Pinup Model, Makeup Artist (MUA) and Hair Stylist. This was the third time I’ve photographed her and I should have the lighting down pat by now. Yet, I still managed to make rookie errors that ruined many images and will require a reshoot. BTW, notice the cool NBA blouse. That’s Natonal Bowling Association, not basketball.

First, the excuses. We only had two hours so I was rushed. Celestina was delayed getting there so now we only had 90 minutes. I tried two poses which required moving the backdrop and wasted more time. And, the biggie: I took a shortcut and let E-TTL handle the intricacies of a four-flash set-up. This isn’t to say E-TTL couldn’t have handled it but it takes a lot more smarts on my. I would have been better off manually setting each flash instead of letting E-TTL try to figure out what I wanted.

Here’s a finished photo of Celestina striking a pinup pose. I wanted a white background in the tradition of true pinups. The BG isn’t pure white as I wanted but it’s better than the original (after the jump.) My first thought was to mask Celestina and drop in a white BG. I immediately realized that was a dumb idea because of the fine hairs where I was backlighting her beautiful red hair. More

Learning to Print on a New Printer

Physically installing the Epson 3880 was a snap. The hardest part was finding all the little pieces of blue tape manufacturers seem to love to hold down various moving and mechanical parts. I have to admit, Epson does a pretty good job of identifying all the locations where the tape can be found. Some spots are pretty ingenious and actually require reading the quick start guide.

For the first test print, through the USB port (the 3880 is also network ready,) with a known, good print, I chose the photo of Celestina (left.) I set all the color management settings to what I thought were the proper settings and let ‘er rip. Oops! The colors were all wrong. After a few more tries, I printed to the old Epson R1800 to be sure the file was OK. Even with some serious clogs, the R1800 was much closer to the screen. Celestina’s red hair looked just like it does to the left and her green dress wasn’t blue like the 3880.

Scratching my head, I decided to postpone the test print and hook up the network connection. This turned into an unmitigated disaster as I didn’t read the manual. After a day of frustration, I decided I didn’t really need the network connection since I’m the only one who will print to the 3880. I just wanted to hook it up because I had paid for it! More

Perfect Prints with Just One Test Print

How many test prints do you normally print before you either get the perfect print or just give up and settle for “good enough?” If you said none or one, you’re either blowing smoke or you’ve invested time, money and effort in a carefully calibrated and profiled system. Printing seems to be a perennial question among Photoshop Elements (PSE) users. Most of the time, the problem seems to be prints that are too light or too dark or have mismatched colors. Today’s Video Monday Morning Tip (VMMT) shows you a way to nail the print with just one test print. I learned about this technique from Rob Sheppard, editor of Outdoor Photographer magazine. Unfortunately, his method no longer works with newer versions of PSE so I’ve reworked it. This method should work for any version after PSE v7.0.
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Score! Gloria Hopkins Webinar Class!

Gloria Hopkins, award winning artist, photographer and author will present a 3-hour webinar class covering her amazingly easy-to-understand concepts of composition and design. In just three short hours, your photos will improve dramatically and noticeably.

Composition is a complex topic because it means different things to different people under different circumstances. In an effort to simplify composition, many photography instructors leave out too much and make it even more mystifying. For example, many religiously follow the Rule of Thirds (RoT) and always try to place the center of interest in an RoT intersection. That can be as bad as never applying RoT. How many contort your brains to identify the Golden Mean? How many are so geeky as to actually understand how a Fibonacci spiral applies to your photographs? Gloria can reduce all that to basic concepts that anyone can understand and apply.

All my students know I hammer cropping as the single most useful technique in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Read this article by Gloria to see how she brings structure and clarity to HOW cropping can make a good photo even better. In the webinar, Gloria will use actual photographs and a technique she developed called “compositional maps” to guide you through the process of evaluating and enhancing photos. Not only will you learn how to compose photos, you’ll also learn how to evaluate photos so you can more quickly sort winners from losers. No more agonizing whether a photo is compositionally salvageable or a lost cause.

Now, obviously, this information is Gloria’s intellectual property (IP) meaning this is how she makes her living so she can’t just give it away anymore than I can give away photography classes. But, I’ve made it so everyone can afford to attend this webinar. Buy Gloria’s 146-page e-book Natural Design and I’ll deduct the entire amount from the cost of the webinar. All you have to do is send me a copy of the PayPal receipt and I’ll deduct $19.99 from the webinar fee. You have my word that this is the easiest, quickest way to improve your compositions.

What if you don’t want the e-book? I think that’s a mistake but some people just don’t learn as well through reading so here’s a different offer. Register for any one of my “hands-on” workshops over $100 and I’ll deduct the entire webinar fee ($49) from the workshop price (new registrations only.)

Still not satisfied? If you’re a former student, you’re always eligible for 10% or 20% discount depending on how many paid classes you’ve taken with me. A few of my students have reached an exalted “Frequent Learner” status where they qualify for 50% discounts on all webinars and workshops.

The registration page is HERE but please also check out Gloria’s website and order her book. During the webinar, you can ask her about things you don’t understand. There’s nothing like having the author explain her thought process when she wrote the book. If you have questions, post them in the Comments section because I’m sure there are others with the same questions.

Black Rapid, Topaz Labs, MediaChance and Everimaging have donated door prizes for this webinar. In all, we have 18 gifts donated by four companies. Follow this link to read about all the cool gifts we’re giving away during these webinars.